Key to the Angels
by Empress of the Azure Skies
Summary: When blood flowed, the end of the world came. When it stopped flowing, the world was saved. Now Dawn finds herself caught in the battle between humanity and the Angels. Neon Genesis Evangelion Crossover. Eventual slash pairing, but nothing explicit.
1. The Girl who Fell from the Sky

Title: Key to the Angels

Title: Key to the Angels

Author: DarkGoddess (aka Empress of the Azure Skies)

Summary: When blood flowed, the end of the world came. When it stopped flowing, the world was saved. Now Dawn finds herself caught in the battle between humanity and the Angels. Neon Genesis Evangelion Crossover. Eventual slash pairing, but nothing explicit.

Timeline: Post 'Gift' for Buffy and episode two for Evangelion.

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Neon Genesis Evangelion. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon and Evangelion belongs to Gainax.

This story is on both my account Empress of the Azure Skies and my Twisting the Hellmouth account DarkGoddess.

Author's Notes:

This story is the first in a series.

There will be slash eventually (don't like, don't read), much later, but it won't rise above kissing in the main stories (onscreen anyway). There may be a side story where the boys get freaky, though.

Het pairings will come in the next story of the series when I have a larger pool of potential partner.

I've decided to use honorifics because I feel they can sometimes convey important implications, so I hope you don't mind a little gratuitous Japanese, though that's all I'll be using honorifics. That means no 'arigatou,' 'gomen,' and especially no 'baka' or 'kawai.'

--

Dawn spared Buffy one last glance. Huge tears trailed down the Slayer's face. A part of her, deep inside, wished she had let Buffy take her place. She didn't want to die.

But she knew this was best. Buffy was the Slayer, the savior of the world. Without Buffy around, another Big Bad would inevitably show up and it would be the end of the world for real. Her life was much more important than Dawn's. Dawn was the Key, something that existed only to tear down dimensional walls and bring Hell to Earth.

Under normal circumstances, Buffy probably would've hit her for saying such things, but now was neither the time nor the place for it. So they argued back and forth for a few all too fleeting seconds and now Dawn was going to save the world.

"I'll say 'hi' to mom for you," Dawn said, her voice quivering slightly and tears obscuring her vision.

Before Buffy could respond, Dawn jumped. For a split second she thought she might pass through the swirling vortex and fall straight through to the ground below. Any illusions of that happening were quickly dispelled as she hit that twisting mass of energy.

Instantly she felt like she was being ripped apart. It was agony like she had never felt before. She tried to scream, but no sound came. When she tried to inhale, she found there was no air to take into her lungs. She wished that she would just hurry up and die. Seconds stretched into millennia as she waited for her life to end and the agony to cease.

When she reached her limit and thought she would go insane, she began to feel warm. Her body began to glow green. A green spread from her into the rest of the portal. A dull lack of feeling spread through her body. As her flesh turned to pure magical energy, she finally felt at peace.

--

Shinji grabbed his arm as the Angel pulled on Evangelion Unit 01's arm. It felt like it was pulling on his arm. He had never been so terrified in his entire life. He never should've agreed to this. He should've just told his father to find someone else and moved on with his life.

"Shinji-kun! Calm down!" came a voice from NERV HQ, "It's not your arm!"

He could hear everyone back at NERV HQ talking, but he couldn't make it out. The fear and pain was too much. He wasn't ready for this, he couldn't do it, the Angel was going to kill him.

He felt the Angel snap Eva's left arm. Pain shot up his arm. The voices came again.

"Left arm damaged!"

"Circuits have snapped!"

The Angel released his arm and hefted him up by his head. It began ramming is head with something inside of its arm. His heart was racing so fast that he thought it might burst out of his chest and he was fairly sure he might wet himself.

"Shinji-kun! Escape!" Misato yelled.

He wanted to tell her that he would if he could, but he was too terrified to say anything. He clutched his eye as whatever the Angel was ramming the Eva with began cracking Eva's eye. He could feel it.

"The front area of the head is cracked," reported Maya.

"The armor won't stand anymore!" said Dr. Akagi.

Finally, the spear of light in the Angel's arm pierced the Eva and a beam of light shot out into Eva's head. It flew back against a building and red fluid burst out of the hole. Shinji could feel himself about to black out. He tried to fight it, but he just wanted to give up and run away. He wasn't meant to fight, it just wasn't in him.

Suddenly the Angel looked up. Eva inexplicably looked up, too. Falling from the sky was a huge green ball of…something moving at an incredible speed.

Shinji could only watch as an orange barrier appeared over the Angel. The immense green ball hit the barrier and shattered it without losing any momentum.

It hit the Angel, vaporizing it completely. Shinji stared as the ball struck the ground, creating a huge crater. The ground beneath him shook violently and Eva collapsed face down. At this moment, Shinji screamed like he had never screamed, releasing all his fear, frustration, and anger.

Relief finally washed over him like sweet manna from Heaven. The Angel was dead and he had survived. He may not have killed it, but the important thing was that the battle was over.

--

Back at NERV HQ, almost everyone had identical expressions of shock and disbelief. Even stoic Gendo Ikari looked surprised.

"What the hell just happened?!" shouted Misato, "Was that some kind of weapon?! It punched right threw the AT field!"

"I certainly hope it wasn't a weapon," replied Ritsuko, "If it was, it's not one of ours."

She left the implication of the consequences of an unknown element possessing a weapon that can easily destroy and AT field hanging in the air.

"Go retrieve any debris from that projectile immediately," ordered Commander Ikari, "I want a full analysis as soon as possible."

"What about Shinji-kun?" asked Misato.

"Pilot survival confirmed," reported Maya.

"That's not quite what I meant," Misato muttered darkly under her breath.

--

Ritsuko scrawled down more notes on her clipboard. The machines spat out information that would've seemed completely undecipherable to most people. They made perfect sense to her however, but the results she was getting was what troubled her.

She sighed and looked at the girl in the bed behind her, a pretty brunette that looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, all kinds of machines collecting data about her. She had been unconscious since the Angel's attack, almost three whole days.

She returned to taking notes from the readouts when Commander Ikari walked in. She blinked, he always made people come to him, he never came to them.

"What have you discovered?" he inquired, "Is she an Angel?"

"I'm still running tests, but so far everything indicates she's human," she replied, "however, she gives off a strange energy signature that has gradually been dissipating since the battle with the Angel. I haven't found anything to explain how a seemingly ordinary teenage girl can fall out of the sky in green ball of energy and not only survive, but walk away with only a few shallow stab wounds that appear to have come from prior to the fall. Even that odd dress she was wearing wasn't damaged at all other than from whatever cut her."

"When she wakes up, I want her to try to pilot Unit 00," he said.

"You want this girl as the Fourth Child?"

"There's obviously something special about her and I want her right here where I can keep an eye on her," he turned to leave, "Make arrangements for her to stay Captain Katsuragi."

Ritsuko was about to leave when she heard the girl stir. She suddenly sat upright, looking around the room frantically.

"Who are you?" the girl asked in English, "Where am I? Where's Buffy?"

Ritsuko hoped her English wasn't as rusty as she thought it was.

"I am Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. You…"

"Wait, you're a doctor? Did I get committed or something? Was all the vampires and stuff just delusion or something?"

Vampires? Perhaps this girl was unstable. Then again Ritsuko had seen many strange things.

"You are not in a mental institution, if that is what you are asking. This is the headquarters of NERV. We found you after the battle with the Angel and brought you here for medical attention."

It wasn't a total lie, but she didn't want to give this girl too much information.

"Oh, um, thanks. I'm Dawn, Dawn Summers. What's NERV? You guys fight angels? Is this Hell? 'Cause if it is, it's not quite as fire and brimstone-y as I imagined."

Ritsuko thought maybe the girl was joking, but something about her expression seemed extremely serious.

"This is Tokyo-3, not Hell. NERV is a part of the United Nations dedicated to combating the threat of the beings we have designated as Angels, which are not literal angels."

"Wait, I'm in Japan? And what happened to the first Tokyo? Or the second one for that matter?"

"I take it you have not studied world history very well, though I thought this was common knowledge. Tokyo-1 was destroyed on September 20, 2000 by a nuclear bomb during the outbreak of violence following the Second Impact. Tokyo-2 is the currently capital of Japan."

Dawn gave her a very confused look, then shook her head.

"Okay, so you're telling me that Tokyo was destroyed by a nuke just a few months ago and it hasn't been all over the news? What's the Second Impact?

Something was wrong. Everyone knew about the Second Impact (even if they didn't know the truth about it) and why would she think the destruction of Tokyo-1 only occurred a few months ago?

"What year do you think it is?"

"2001"

Curiouser and curiouser.

"The current year is 2015."

Dawn's jaw dropped, then something seemed to click in her mind.

"So, um, when can I leave here?"

"Hmm…I need to run a few more tests, but you should be able to leave in morning. I was going to make arrangements for you stay with a friend of mine, she is taking care of a boy about your age, but she does not speak English. I will speak with my superior Commander Ikari and see about other arrangements."

"Um...don't I get a say?"

Ritsuko hadn't expected her to protest. Rei just went along with whatever they wanted of her and Shinji hadn't raised any complaints about living with Misato.

"Of course, but where will you go?"

"Sunnydale, California, my hometown. It's not far from L.A."

"I will speak with Commander Ikari. I'll leave you alone for now. Do you need anything?"

Dawn shook her head, then her stomach growled very loudly.

"Maybe some food and something to drink," Dawn laughed, "And do you think you can unhook me from some of these machines."

Ritsuko smiled a little and began unhooking the machines.

--

As Dawn watched the blonde doctor, who could obviously not be Asian even taking into consideration her obvious dye job, leave she wanted to break something. She had made a heroic sacrifice to save the world. She was supposed to be in heaven catching up with her mom, not in some alternate reality Japan where she obviously the prisoner of some UN organization. At least she hoped it was an alternate reality like the ones Anya had told her about. If not, it raised some serious questions about the monks' craftsmanship.

She got up to stretch her legs. They hurt like she hadn't walked in a few days. She noticed that someone had changed her out of that dress Glory had made her wear and put her in a hospital gown.

She couldn't help but wonder if Sunnydale even existed here or Buffy for that matter. Even if she did, she would be about thirty-four, probably with kids of her own.

Maybe living in Japan wouldn't be such a bad thing. Giles had taught her what little bit of the language he knew (or maybe the monks had just planted that there, she wasn't sure if it was a memory from before or after her creation) so surely it wouldn't be that hard to learn. She could start over with a life of her own, not as a little sister created for the Slayer to protect, but her own person.

Still she missed everyone, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Tara, Giles, even Anya, patronizing though she was. So even if there was only a tiny chance they were there, she had to risk it. Sunnydale was her home and they were her family.

She began pacing around her room, a plan forming in her head. If she could get to this world's Sunnydale, there might be a Hellmouth there. If there was Hellmouth, she might be able to find a way to open a portal home. She already knew her blood could open portals. Well…tear down dimensional barriers and bring Hell crashing down the heads of unsuspecting mortals at a predetermined point in time that had already passed, but maybe if she could learn the right spells she could harness and control it.

After a few minutes of walking around her room, she decided she didn't like this place. Something wasn't right about it. It wasn't just the fact that she was inside the headquarters of some secret organization and it wasn't just because she felt like she was being watched (she decided she probably was being watched). It was like there was something below her. It felt sort of like how she had always imagined the Hellmouth should feel: spewing out all kinds of bad mojo up at you, although she never felt anything quite like that.

Then she remembered she had mentioned vampires out loud and cursed silently to herself. They would probably be bringing a straightjacket back for her. Then again these people fought angels, so maybe they would be more willing to believe in monsters.

She shrugged to herself. It was too late to worry about it now. She simply returned to her pacing and tried to remember everything she could about the Key and magic she had ever learned.

After about a half an hour of that, Dawn was extremely bored and hungry. How long did it take get some food around here? She was tempted to try to sneak out of her room, but she had seen enough movies and TV to suggest this wasn't a very good idea, especially if she wanted these people to trust her.

--

Shinji lied sprawled out on his bed. He was still haunted by images of the battle with the Angel. He had been helpless, useless, and he would've been killed if that thing that fell out of the sky. It would be better if he just left and they found a new pilot. He had been receiving training with his Eva, but he didn't see the point. There was no way he'd ever be able to beat an Angel. His father had been right to leave him, who in the world would want a son as pathetic as him?

His eyes began to sting like tears were about to come. They wouldn't, though. They never did. He never cried. He just lied there, wishing he could be stronger, smarter, better.

He knew he would have to start school soon. It was a terrifying concept. He hated being around other people. At school he always just sat there, never speaking to anyone unless they spoke directly to him first. It was so embarrassing. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to them. He just had no idea how to do it. He never understood how some people could babble on to anyone for hours. How did they know what to say?

He hit shuffle on his MP3 player and hoped the music would help him drift off more easily. He had been right and sleep overtook him in no time.

Shinji was on a train speeding somewhere. He had no idea where it was going and he really didn't care. He was just along for the ride.

A sickly green light poured in through the windows. Out the window opposite of him he could see the sun, but it was also green. He didn't like it, but there was nothing he could do about it. He tried to look away from it, but as soon as he managed to pry his eyes away, they were drawn back to it.

This time someone was sitting there. The light from the green sun shone around their head like a halo. Their face was completely shrouded in darkness.

When the person spoke, hundreds of voices came out all at once. Male voices, female voices, loud ones, quiet ones, harsh ones, soft ones. He couldn't possibly understand what they were saying.

He didn't say anything, he just keep looking down.

They voices kept talking. They were all pleading with him for different things, but all of them wanted different things.

One voice rose above the others, a female voice.

"This time you will be the one to choose. Our lives mean nothing."

Finally the voices stopped and Shinji and his companion rode the train in silence.

--

In the depths of GeoFront, Gendo and Fuyutsuki were conferring. The gloom in the room seemed to actually have substance. Gendo sat in his characteristic position with his gloved hands crossed and his glasses positioned in such a way as to cover much of his face. Fuyutsuki stood in his usual position at Gendo's side.

"What do you intend to do with the girl?" Fuyutsuki asked, "Will you let her go to California?"

"I'll tell have to tell the Old Men about her, though I won't tell them the whole truth," Gendo replied, "She's an unknown in all of this and I don't want them getting their hands on her. As for letting her go to California, it's probably best that we gain her trust. Nothing will come of it, I checked myself and there is no such town as Sunnydale, there never has been."

"What about her piloting an Eva?"

"She might be able to pilot Unit 00, though I believe it would be better for her to test Unit 03 or 04 upon their completion. Perhaps we should schedule her trip to America to coincide with these."

"Won't SEELE be suspicious of her?"

"I've managed to dupe those fools easily so far. It will require some delicate maneuvering, but it won't be a difficult task."

"What should we do with her until then?"

"If she can't speak Japanese as Dr. Akagi said, it may present some problems. She won't be able to attend school until she learns more. Perhaps we'll have her stay with Rei, she quite a bit of English and doesn't speak much anyway."

"You'll leave a teenager without adult supervision?"

"I don't have much choice. Captain Katsuragi doesn't speak English, so that would be a bad situation. If she can learn Japanese, then we'll rethink the living arrangements. Besides what can she do in a country where she can't effectively communicate with most people? Rei will keep a close eye on her for us."

"How does this girl fit into your plans?"

"She destroyed an Angel. She obviously has power. Utilizing that power to further my goals may increase my chances of success. If it doesn't, we can simply discard her so that she doesn't become a hindrance."

Fuyutsuki had to suppress a shudder, like so many times before, at the cold man his precious student had fallen in love with. He often wondered what she would think of him now. Could this really be what she had wanted all along?

--

Author's Note:

I swore this would never see the light of day until it was finished, but I'm weak. I hope you liked it.

If you're wondering what happened to that stupid tape player Shinji had, I got rid of it. I will give them that the show was made in the nineties, but seriously, a tape player in 2015? No, just no.

Also, if you're wondering why there's no Sunnydale in the NGE world, it's because of the lack of demons. Mayor Richard Wilkins founded Sunnydale in a place with high demonic activity. No demons, no Sunnydale.


	2. The Mysterious Girl, The Fourth Child?

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Okay, from this point on, I'm gonna have some spoilers, so caveat lector.

--

Dawn, now clad in a clean NERV uniform, looked in amazement at the huge purple…mecha? That seemed like the right word. Xander would probably know, he had introduced her to anime after all. Or maybe that was just another false memory created by the monks.

Whatever the term for it was, the thing was both awe-inspiring and terrifying. Like everything in this screwed up place, it just seemed ominous. It reminded her far too much of the numerous monsters that roamed Sunnydale, preying on humans.

"This is Evangelion Unit 01," Dr. Akagi explained, "The Evangelions, or Evas for short, were created to protect humanity from the Angels. Units 00 and 01 are prototypes. Unit 02 is the first production model Eva and is located in Germany with its pilot. Units 03 and 04 are currently in production in America."

"Coolio…" Dawn responded half heartedly, still having a staring contest with the Eva.

It wasn't that she didn't find her tour of NERV HQ entertaining. She was just immensely freaked out by this place and she really wanted to go home.

"So what did that Commander guy say?" Dawn finally asked.

"Erm…" Dr. Akagi hesitated momentarily, "Commander Ikari would like you to attempt to pilot an Eva first and if you are indeed selected as the Fourth Child, he would prefer for you to remain here until either Unit 03 or 04 is complete. Then you'll have your own Eva."

Dawn had a few things on her mind at this point. One, she definitely didn't like this Commander Ikari already if he was trying to drag her into this global conspiracy/war or whatever these people did. Two, she very much didn't like that there wasn't a question anywhere in what Dr. Akagi had just said to her. Three, she had guessed that Fourth Child meant fourth pilot. Four and most importantly, definitely wasn't looking forward to getting in that…thing.

"So…I have to get inside that?" Dawn inquired uncertainly.

"No," Dr. Akagi responded, "We will test you in Unit 00. Its pilot was injured recently and she is still recovering."

She turned around to look straight at the bleach blonde scientist. She found herself wondering if her mole had switched sides since Dawn last looked at her. She was savvy enough to know just to go along with this and wait for her chance. Being captured by a hell goddess can do that to a girl.

"Okay then, let's get this over with."

Dr. Akagi reached into her lab coat pocket and pulled out two small white objects.

"These are A10 Nerve Clips. They will allow you to mentally link with the Eva."

So it was going to be linked to her brain? Dawn had a feeling that wasn't a good thing.

--

Dawn took a hesitant breath of the LCL around her. Just like Dr. Akagi had said, she was able to breathe it like air. It was an odd feeling though, like having water in her lungs but not drowning.

They had made her put on some skin tight one piece suit

The orange Unit 00 hadn't unnerved her as much as Unit 01, but she didn't like it. She liked even less the small, liquid filled tube she had to get in to pilot it. She just kept in mind that she needed these people to trust her if she was ever going to get out of here to open a portal home. Besides, he had stared down real monsters, soulless demons that subsisted on the blood of humans and took sadistic pleasure in toying with their victims and she been held captive by a god and then jumped to what was supposed to be certain death, so what was having to get inside a scary giant robot? Granted, Buffy was the one that did the slaying, but she watched!

Suddenly everything around her flashed several colors and then a screen appeared in front of her. It showed Dr. Akagi standing over a younger brunette whom Dr. Akagi had introduced her to. Maya, Dawn believed her name was. She appeared to be typing on some keyboard and monitoring something. The two of them conferred in Japanese and then spoke with some other people in the room.

"You are doing fine, Dawn," Dr. Akagi said, "Your ratio of synchronization is 26.2. That is pretty good for…"

She trailed off and began speaking to Maya in Japanese again.

"Your synchronization ratio appears to be rising."

"Is that normal?" Dawn asked, still nervous.

"Not for a test like this. Excuse me."

More Japanese.

Dawn sat in silence, waiting for them to finish talking.

_-you?_

"Huh?" Dawn asked, looking at the screen. It apparently hadn't been Dr. Akagi as she was still talking to Maya.

_Who are you?_

Was that coming from inside the Eva? Or inside her head?

"Okay, this is seriously creepy," Dawn muttered.

_Who are you?_

It was more forceful this time. She had to get out of this thing. But how would it react if she panicked? She forced herself to stay calm. Buffy couldn't come save her here. She had to stand on her own feet.

"D-dawn. Dawn Summers."

Dawn looked at the screen to see Dr. Akagi hadn't heard her. The last thing she needed was them thinking she was talking to herself. Especially after the vampire comment.

_You are not one of the Lilim, nor are you a child of the other. You lack the light. How do you exist as a separate entity?_

"Um, I have no idea what you're talking about. Separate entity from what?"

No response.

"Hello? Creepy disembodied voice?"

Nothing.

"I'm never getting in this thing again," Dawn promised herself.

"Dawn!" Dr. Akagi yelled.

It was only then that Dawn realized her eyes had been closed. Did she fall asleep in this thing and have some kind of weird dream? It hadn't really seemed like it.

"I was worried. I thought you had lost consciousness. Your synchronization ratio went back down. We got the data we needed so I'll eject the entry plug."

Dawn let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh wait," she said, "what are Lilim?"

Dr. Akagi seemed to be caught off guard by this.

"I don't believe I've heard of Lilim," she said after a moment's hesitation, "Why do you ask?"

"Um, it's nothing, just a word I heard before," Dawn quickly lied, "I think it was a science term or something so I thought you might know, being a scientist and all."

She mentally chastised herself for being so careless again. Lilim obviously meant something and now they knew she knew Lilim, whatever they were, existed. She just hoped that wasn't 'shoot you in the head if you find out about it' classified information.

--

"What do you have to report?" Gendo asked, sitting in his characteristic position with Fuyutsuki standing at his side, as always.

Most people would be intimidated by him in the gloom of his office, but Ritsuko Akagi was used to it.

"She was able to synchronize with Unit 00. Her synchro ratio started at 26.2 and rose to about 92.6 in a short amount of time, then went back to 25.4."

Gendo considered this for a moment.

"Was there anything else unusual?"

"She appeared to be unconscious when her synchro ratio reached the eighties and she was mumbling to herself. When she came out of it, she asked what the Lilim are."

Gendo's eyebrow arched.

"Is it possible she communicated with the soul inside of the Eva?" he asked.

"I considered the same thing. I wouldn't have thought such a thing would be possible without her completely dissolving into it," she replied.

Gendo sat in pensive silence.

"Perhaps it would be better if she didn't attempt to pilot an Eva again, at least until she has one of her own. Rei seems to be recovering from her injuries. I believe the two of them should meet. I intend for the two of them to live together. And tell her she will go to Nevada to test Unit 04 when the Americans finish it. Dismissed."

Ritsuko nodded and exited.

"What are you thinking?" Fuyutsuki asked after she was gone.

"If this girl can communicate with the souls of the Evas, it may cause problems," Gendo stated, "But how does she do it? What is she?"

"Could she be an Angel?"

"All the tests indicated she isn't. She may be human with special abilities or she could be something else, neither human nor Angel. The important thing is to use her for our advantage."

"What about her Eva? Whose soul could be put in it?"

"That might be unnecessary. She may not require one."

"What basis do you have for thinking that?"

"As we've seen, she's special. Even if I'm wrong, she will probably have made friends by then. All the children at the school are potential candidates for being Eva pilots, so if they happen to have an accident, their parents will understand that is one of the risks of war."

"So why Unit 04, why not Unit 03?"

"It's closer to where she wants to go," he said simply, "Besides, I don't intend to let her go until we have located the Fifth Child."

"Don't you worry the Americans or SEELE will get their hands on her?"

"No, I have it all planned out."

--

When Dawn met Rei Ayanami, her first thought was 'demon.' The girl was fairly pretty, even if she didn't wear any makeup and her right eye was covered by a bandage. The thing that bothered Dawn was that the girl had blue hair, red eyes, and was practically albino. The hair color could've been the result of dye and the eye and skin color could've been from actual albinism. Dawn just hoped she was right about that, though she had a sinking feeling in her stomach that said otherwise.

Plus the girl was seriously creepy, her school uniform only making her seem like something not quite human masquerading as such. The only thing that comforted Dawn were the bandages and her right arm in a sling. At least if she wasn't human, she wasn't invulnerable either.

"Hi, I'm Dawn Summers," she said as cheerfully as possible.

Rei stared at her.

"Rei Ayanami," the creepy girl said in a flat voice.

The two stood in awkward silence with Rei's eyes boring into Dawn. Dawn averted her gaze, not wanting to stare into those red eyes. It felt like the creepy girl was staring into her soul. Dr. Akagi had warned her about Rei, but she hadn't expected this. It was Dr. Akagi who finally broke it.

"Rei, Commander Ikari would like Dawn to live with you and for you to teach her Japanese. You'll have to move to a larger apartment."

"Very well."

Dr. Akagi smiled, "Why don't you two girls get to know each other a little? I need to go take care of some things."

"Okay," answered Dawn.

Rei did nothing.

So Dawn was left alone with the creepy girl. They both sat down in nearby chairs.

"Um, so what do you live alone?" Dawn ventured, not sure what she was supposed to ask.

Rei regarded her, then nodded.

"That must be nice, ya know, no one telling you what to do. I bet you can pretty much do whatever you want. I really miss my sister, but she could be pretty strict sometimes."

There was a hint of what might have been confusion on Rei's face.

"I do as I am ordered."

"Oh."

More silence followed as Dawn thought of what to say.

"Do you…ever get lonely living alone?"

No reply as Rei looked at the floor.

"I think I'd get lonely if I had to live alone," Dawn said, trying to fill the silence, "I kind of resented Mom and Buffy, that's my sister, sometimes but I couldn't imagine having to be all by myself. I just hope you don't mind that I'm going to live with you."

"We were ordered to live together," Rei said.

Dawn was really starting to feel uncomfortable. This living arrangement was not going to work.

"So, uh," she attempted again, "Do you think it'll be hard for me to learn Japanese? 'Cause I already know a little. Buffy's Wa-boss taught it to me. He always said that American schools would never give me the language skills I would need in that stuffy British way of his. I was so excited, 'cause like how many teenagers can say they speak a bunch of languages? He was even teaching me to read Sumerian, which is cool, but I doubt I'd ever need that."

Even if her new roommate didn't appear to be listening, Dawn was comforted by reminiscing.

"If you are a good student, it should pose no problems," Rei replied, much to Dawn's surprise.

Growing emboldened, Dawn decided to push ahead with more questions.

"So what do us crazy teens do for fun here?"

"Fun?" Rei asked in response.

"You know, whacky hijinks? Stuff you do when you're not following orders?"

"I always follow orders."

Dawn could see this path going nowhere. Maybe she had been brainwashed. This place certainly reminded her of the Initiative. Well, what she had always thought the Initiative would be like from what they had told her about it and she wouldn't put it passed any Initiative-like organization to do something like that.

Luckily she was saved from further conversation by Dr. Akagi arriving with two other people in tow. The first was a brown eyed woman with black hair that had an almost purplish tint to it who looked to be about Dr. Akagi's age, wearing a black dress and a red jacket over it with a silver cross necklace. The other was a blue eyed brunet boy who looked to be about fourteen or fifteen wearing a school uniform consisting of a white button up shirt and dark blue pants.

"Dawn, this is the Third Child, Shinji Ikari. He pilots Unit 01 and he's Commander Ikari's son," Dr. Akagi introduced, "The woman is Captain Misato Katsuragi. She's a field commander for the Children and Shinji's guardian for the time. They're here for Shinji to run a combat simulation. You can stay and watch if you want. We've got people preparing a new apartment for you and Rei."

"Sure, I'll stick around for that. It's not like I've got anything better to do," she said, then decided to try her Japanese skills out on her new acquaintances, "Dojo yurishiko."

Both of them gave her very strange looks. That was definitely not the right phrase for 'pleased to meet you.' Maybe she should've paid more attention when Giles went over Japanese. Luckily Dr. Akagi was there to bail her out.

"I think you meant 'dozo yoroshku," Dr. Akagi said with a small laugh and then said something to Shinji and Commander Katsuragi in Japanese.

As Dr. Akagi and Commander Katsuragi continued talking, Dawn noticed Shinji attempting to talk to Rei. He was very hesitant and spoke slowly and cautiously. When Rei did reply to him, it was in just one or two words with a short phrase thrown in. Dawn noted a look in Rei's eye as she looked at the boy. It was piercing, but also seemed somehow maternal in a way. Not 'cookies and hugs' maternal, more 'we need to have a talk, young lady' or 'mess with my baby and I'll hit you with a fire axe' maternal. Dawn just tried to shrug it off as her imagination.

Of course this all made Dawn feel a little left out. Not that she wasn't used to that. Buffy had always kept her at arm's length from the Scoobies, 'safe' from all the things the things that go bump in the night. What a joke that had been.

She really hoped this simulation would be interesting. The last thing she needed to do was stand around moping. She would find a way and that was all there was to it.

--

Dawn tapped her pen on the notebook in front of her. She sighed and took another look at the textbook in front of her. This was becoming very frustrating. Finally she just sat the pen and completely stretched out on her bed.

Learning Japanese had been tougher than she originally thought. In the more than two weeks she had been living with Rei, she had already learned hiragana and katakana and some simple words phrases (her previous lessons with Giles, brief though they were, had paid off here), but now it was starting to become harder. She had moved on to trying to learn some kanji and to make sentences. It was really nice to have a native speaker help her, even if getting Rei to talk for very long was like pulling teeth.

Their apartment was fairly nice, if a bit cramped. She and Rei shared a bedroom, the bathroom was tiny, and they had one place that served as a kitchen, dining room, and living room all in one. Dawn remembered learning that living space had been at a premium in her world's Japan. Apparently this was true in this Japan as well, a problem made worse by good portions of the country being underwater.

She spared a glance at the empty bed across from her. It was a total mess and Dawn was tempted to make it just so she would have something to do. In the time Dawn had lived with Rei she had learned several things about her: she was creepy, she didn't bother to pick up after herself, she was so introverted that she made Tara look like a social butterfly, she had no problem with Dawn seeing her naked after she finished bathing, and her blue apparently was her natural hair color (something Dawn learned from her lack of modesty).

"Too bad I'm not into 'doing spells' with other girls like Willow and Tara," Dawn said aloud with a chuckle.

This remark made her feel really homesick. She really had nothing to do while Rei was at school but study Japanese and miss her friends and family. This inevitably led to questions. Did they think she was dead? She hadn't left a body behind after all. Would this make them think she had landed in a Hell dimension like Angel did? Were they spending day and night reading old spell books looking for a way to get her back? How much time had passed there? According to Anya, her almost three weeks here could be three hundred years back home, or possibly just three seconds.

"No," she said firmly, "I'm not going to think like that. I'll find a way home no matter what. All I need is a nice shopping trip to get myself out of this place for a while."

Wasn't that the truth? She had managed to drag Rei on one trip to spend some of the money NERV gave them, but Dawn's roommate didn't really show any interest in having any clothing aside from her uniform.

"What teenage girl doesn't like shopping?" Dawn asked herself, then raised her voice and shook her fist, "You'll never brainwash out my love of shopping!"

At that moment her NERV issued cell phone rang, causing her to jump.

"Just kidding!" she said, as she reached for it hesitantly.

"Hello?" Dawn answered.

"Dawn," came Dr. Akagi's voice, "We have spotted another Angel approaching the city. A transport team is coming to get you and bring you here. Meet them in front of your apartment building."

Click

Dawn sighed as she shut the phone.

"Even in a different dimension I have to deal with monsters."

--

Shinji's face hurt like Hell after the punch he had just taken. It wasn't his fault that Toji guy's sister had been hurt during the Angel attack. He didn't even want to pilot the stupid Eva. He never should've told anyone he was the pilot.

There was a small glimmer of hope though. Misato had mentioned something about that American girl being the Fourth Child and that her Evangelion was under construction in America. Maybe once it was done and Ayanami recovered from her injuries, he wouldn't have to do it anymore.

As he lay one the ground, looking up at the sky with clouds floating lazily, he couldn't help but wish he could just fly away. He just wanted to get away from it all, the Angels, the Evas, NERV, his father, and everything else. If only…

He noted the sound of approaching footsteps and turned to see Ayanami. Embarrassed, he sat up and rubbed his face.

"An emergency call," she said simply, "I'll go on ahead."

She ran off in the other direction as the emergency sirens began going off.

A/N: It felt like it took me forever to get this done. I had actually intended to have the fight with Shamsel in this chapter, but then I realized my one episode-one chapter format wasn't going to work too well with episode four consisting of Shinji being all emo and running away and episode five consisting of recovering parts of Shamsel (something I could actually work with) and flashbacks of Rei and then Shinji accidentally groping her. So I'll probably be combining them together for the next chapter.


End file.
